The Kickout: Cleveland — Terrace Edition

Words: Shelby Gill

Images: Shelby Gill

The windows were down, blasting the FIFA 2006 soundtrack en route to the asphalt waterfront in downtown Cleveland, for the first organized street soccer tournament in the American city.

I was impressed with the number of people who showed up by the time the first gamed kicked-off at the inaugural Kickout.

Cleveland has a large presence of amateur / semi pro teams taking part, including the Cleveland Crunch, MLIS champions; Cleveland SC, a strong NPSL squad; Ohio City SC, new NOSL amateur stars; Forest City FC, a brand new second division NOSL squad under Ohio City SC; Akron City FC, another NPSL favorite south of Cleveland; Innovation City FC, and an Akron futsal team in the Futsal Champions Series.

Finally, the Corner65 kids rocked up. These are the most talented group of kids from around the world, who have found solace, safety and community in the beautiful game.

©Shelby Gill/ Terrace Edition. Cleveland Kickout.

The setup was simple. Eight teams, two basketball courts with small goals under the slowly setting sun, and the sounds of seagulls, waves, FIFA soundtrack hits from DJ KillaLias, and cheering crowds.

Over 500 people attended, free of charge, no gatekeeping, to watch 17 matches, with vendors such as Zanzibar, Corner65 lemonade and Good Vibe Pies keeping everyone full and hydrated while getting to experience not only the sport of football as the world knows it, but the extra-special fast-paced beauty that is futsal or street soccer.

This event was the culmination of weekly open futsal nights and everyone involved being active online and off making sure the community knows where to watch and play, bringing more and more people to the blacktop by the lake for the beautiful game we all know and love.

We all know how skillful you must be to play soccer at a high level, but futsal is a whole other flow.

The pace is unrelenting. First-touch and speed are mandatory. End-to-end play is inevitable.

Every last player on the court exhibited a level of talent I felt so lucky to be in the same vicinity of, let alone get to watch some 500 people witness, possibly for some of them for the first time.

As the founder of the Kickout, Noah Toumert said in his roundup; “It felt raw, fast, and real. And it looked like Cleveland at its best: joyful, connected, and loud in all the right ways.”

Under the lights, Ohio City came out on top in an intense final and several weeks later, the women’s edition, allowed Ohio City’s women’s team to claim victory in the end as well.

The energy was palpable, people making new friends, friends and players catching up and ideas for the next one already forming.

Cleveland Pro Soccer, and the support they have behind soccer in Cleveland, aim to put on a couple more events like this leading up to the excitement of the World Cup in North America in 2026, and with getting an MLSNEXT team and a women’s team on the horizon, I’m so excited to see what happens with soccer in Cleveland.

Personally, as a lifelong player (who played, albeit abysmally, in the women’s version a couple months later…turf or grass is more my strength) and a photographer, this was the type of communal event I’d been dying to be involved with.

Some of the 500 odd people may have been experiencing this style of play for the first time. And to see so many smiles and joy on a summer evening on the lake, all brought together by a game that’s touched us all deeply in one way or another, was unbeatable.

Whether it’s watching, playing, or photographing, this will always be the most beautiful thing in the world to me. And I can’t wait to see it grow in my home city.